Thursday, July 10, 2014

INTERVIEW: Lex Chase plus Giveaway!

Today we're talking to Lex Chase--the woman of many hats! She's coming to us with her new novel Chasing Sunrise. 100% of the pre-order sales royalties will go to Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center's Domestic Violence Service. Also, make sure you check out her giveaway--details at the end of the interview!Hello Lex
and welcome to The Hat Party! <3
Thank you so much for subjecting yourself to the RANDOMNESS that is a Raine
O'Tierney interview! Please don your best hat, and let's get started!

Thank you Raine! Have a photo of my typical “writing
gear” of a hat, my hoodie, and headphones.

Today is my Boston Strong hat, in honor of the One
Fund Boston to help victims of the Boston Marathon Bombings. I’m from Maine and
was a Red Sox fan since before birth. Survivors have definitely been an
inspiration to me!

You have three words, describe your writing dreams.

Terrifying, maddening batshit.

On a scale 1 (super chill) to 10 (falling apart at
the seams) how cool are you under the pressure of blurb writing?!

Oh god. I’m not a 10. I’m more like a
10,000,000,000! I hate how you know your book in and out, and the second you
open the file you instantly forget
what the book is about! I just want to cry, eat my emotions, or mash my face to
the keys and pray brilliance falls out.

That one question where it’s “Summarize your story
in 6 sentences.” I just want to throw myself down a flight of stairs. I’ve
thought of things like “ROCKS FALL! EVERYONE DIES!” Or the one that’s like
“What’s your MC’s profession?” I swear to god, for King Sevon, the MC of
Chasing Sunrise, I thought long and hard about saying: “He’s a king and bosses
people around.”

I go on frequent
comedic Twitter rants when doing the blurb worksheet. It seems to entertain
people.

If you could go back and speak to your 13-year-old
self, what would you say?

You know that story you came up with during a manic
phase on Valentine’s Day 1992? It will
all be useful later.

A genre-specific virus has attacked you, rendering
you INCAPABLE of writing your chosen genre. What do you do now?!

With that half of my grey matter dead to writing
sci-fi/fantasy, I’d write sports stories! I love baseball. Boston Red Sox are
my boys as well as my local minor league team the Blue Wahoos (this is what
happens when you leave elementary school children in charge of naming a
baseball team.) The Rookie with Dennis Quaid is one of my favorite films, about
a guy that coaches high school baseball but can actually pitch over 98 miles an
hour. That’s actually A Big Deal (TM).

Describe yourself using song lyrics.

“And I must be an acrobat
To talk like this and act like that.
And you can dream, so dream out loud
And you can find your own way out.
And you can build, and I can will
And you can call, I can't wait until
You can stash and you can seize
In dreams begin responsibilities
And I can love, and I can love
And I know that the tide is turning 'round
So don't let the bastards grind you down.”

--U2, “Acrobat” from “Achtung, Baby”

Tell me your zombie apocalypse survival plan.

In the US South, my best option would be to head to
Biloxi, Mississippi and make camp in the Beau Ravage Casino. Casinos don’t have
windows, and are on generators, so they’d be secure and always have light.
Between the different restaurants, there would be a good amount of food. And if
rationed properly would last a while. The Beau is tall, so good for surveying
the land, also building a rooftop garden, or even for communications.

Of course it isn’t fool proof. The generators would
eventually die, and the plumbing would surely go, and the perishable foods
would be gone before anyone could eat it all.

And the things I would never ever leave behind are my cats. I actually legitimately have nightmares about leaving my cats behind in a
zombie apocalypse. Mommy loves her babies.

You have 200 words—Make. Me. Swoon. (PLEASE!)

Have a snippet of my submission to the Hot off the
Press Anthology. I call it “The Truth is Out There.”

“Ennis, hurry!” Veda whispered and urged him onward
through the museum.

If Ennis learned one thing about Veda in this whole
fucked up investigation, it was never to argue when the Great Guru Veda said hurry. Only there was something
incredibly different about the order this time. Something that made Ennis’s
toes curl into the padding of his Mossimo flip-flops.

Veda latched his hand around Ennis’s wrist and yanked
him into the research room. Ennis stumbled, and caught himself on the storage
cabinet containing documents from the Illuminati, Wahrheitsgesellschaft, and
Order of the Dragon. Surrounded by secrets and lies, Ennis would have taken
great pride in debunking it all as smoke and mirrors.

Nothing about this strange mystic calling himself
Veda was smoke and mirrors. He was smoke. And he was fire.

Ennis didn’t understand all of Veda’s Blood Sugar
Sex Magik, but he was pretty when he cried out as he came. He pulled Veda to
him, and worked him into readiness.

“Then I’m going to take great pride in fucking you
over the manifesto of The Blue Rider,” Ennis breathed against Veda’s needy
mouth.

What is your most irrational fear and what makes you
inexplicably happy?

My most irrational fear is waking up in the middle
of the night and finding someone in my bed next to me staring at me. I’m
single. My bed’s a twin. It gives me the heebie-jeebies to think about it.

The thing that makes me inexplicably happy is Animal
Planet’s Too Cute! Especially about kittens. There’s always one that’s the
runt, but then they show up all of their brothers and sisters by the end. They
have the most adorable names. There was a litter of Russian Blues named after
Cosmonauts. Like Yuri, Cosmo, and Sputnik. I break down sobbing is when they go
to their forever homes. I can’t cope!

Worst mistake you’ve made in your career and what
you’ve learned from it?

Careerwise, Mismarketing. Like I thought Erotic Romance just meant the sex scenes were more
graphic and it didn’t need to have a happy ending. Uh. Yeah. Imagine my
surprise.

And finally, for THE most important question of all:
what kinds of dachshunds are the BEST kinds of dachshunds?

When they’re still puppies! :D As we call them
they’re cocktail franks.

On
the Coastal Bend of Texas, a hidden kingdom called Darkmore lies in ruins, and
King Sevon Maraté is trapped. Using Sevon as a mouthpiece and a scapegoat, Lord
Dominic rules from the shadows. Born of royal verkolai blood and as beautiful
as he is lethal, Sevon possesses the ability to part the Veil separating his
world from hundreds of others. His gift is his chance to escape, but Dominic
refuses to relinquish his tool for power. Dominic forges an ambitious plan to
invade the prosperous land of Priagust. Only a select few know the mythic
kingdom of shifters exists. Sevon is out of options for his people’s survival,
and cooperating with Dominic is his only chance.

On their foray into Priagust, Dominic's men kidnap
and interrogate a shifter named Jack. Even under torture, Jack's loyalty to his
kind never wavers. But as Jack’s knowledge about Darkmore’s king and its
history unsettles Sevon, a curious bond begins to form. Despite Sevon’s
mistrust, Jack is determined to tame Sevon’s wild heart and perhaps earn his
freedom. As invasion looms, Sevon wonders if trusting Jack will lead him into
another trap or if he should forget about chasing the sunrise and remain
Dominic's compliant prisoner.

100%
of the presale royalties of this book will go to Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian
Center's Domestic Violence Service.

And the bonus hat under my hoodie is one of my NASCAR hats. Today it’s Carl Edwards who is sponsored by Aflac. (Yes. I have more than one NASCAR hat. What. Why are you looking at me like that?)

What inspired you to write Chasing Sunrise?

I had a pretty rough childhood growing up with mental illness. I was creating these super elaborate worlds and characters that could not only save the day but were deeply flawed.

The world of Chasing Sunrise and its inhabitants were a coping mechanism for me. It was something that got me through the bad days, and made me enjoy the good days. As I got better I had put the story down for several years. I didn’t pick it back up until I was in my 20’s and in an abusive relationship. Again the world and characters had become something I could retreat into. Where despite the characters’ flaws, they would go forth and conquer. You can read about how the story came to be over here on my blog:

In Chasing Sunrise, flat out forget everything you know about vampires and shifters.

The vampire type race are called the aisa are replacement eaters. Not just wheeee blood drinkers. They need to eat the whole body. And yes. I do mean the bones, organs, and skin. Hannibal Lecter and I should hang out sometime and trade notes.

And the aisa don’t fucking sparkle period the end period.

As for the shifters, in Chasing Sunrise, we’re exclusively dealing with werewolves and werecats. But it’s dropped in that there are a vast variety of them. Werelizards and reptiles, werebirds and avians, weremantas and other aquatic creatures (mermaids? What mermaids!) and then my quirky favorites of weresharks, and there’s totally a werejellyfish. I am in stupid love with the werejellyfish.

And in the sequel, Glass Moon, we meet the werespiders. Aaaaawwwww yaaaaaasssss. They are delightfully freaky. And will ruin your shit.

Oh. And the main character, Sevon, is a full time transvestite in elaborate gowns, corsets, and jewelry. Because he is quite prim and proper. He is also full of sass.

What are your hopes for this title?

Despite all the pretty pretty wrapping paper of a vampire/shifter story, at its core, Chasing Sunrise and the rest of the Darkmore Saga is a story about domestic violence, and one man’s desperate escape to break free. He wants to find love on his own terms, and learn he is worthy of being loved.

As a domestic violence survivor at the hands of my girlfriend, I find we need to raise awareness about abuse in an LGBT relationship. My hopes for readers are for those that haven’t been in that situation, gay or straight, understand what it’s like. And those that are in that situation, they know that someone gets them, and they too can find the hope and the light to escape.

Lex Chase once heard Stephen King say in a
commercial, “We’re all going to die, I’m just trying to make it a little more
interesting.” She knew then she wanted to make the world a little more
interesting too.

Weaving tales of cinematic, sweeping adventure and epic love—and depending on
how she feels that day—Lex sprinkles in high-speed chases, shower scenes, and
more explosions than a Hollywood blockbuster. She loves tales of men who kiss
as much as they kick ass. She believes if you’re going to going to march into
the depths of hell, it better be beside the one you love.

Lex is a pop culture diva and her DVR is constantly backlogged. She wouldn’t
last five minutes without technology in the event of the apocalypse and has
nightmares about refusing to leave her cats behind. She is incredibly
sentimental, to the point that she gets choked up at holiday commercials. But
like the lovers driven to extreme measures to get home for the holidays, Lex
believes everyone deserves a happy ending.

Lex also has a knack for sarcasm, never takes herself seriously, and has been
nicknamed “The Next Alan Moore” by her friends for all the pain and suffering she
inflicts on her characters. She is a Damned Yankee hailing from the frozen
backwoods of Maine now residing in the burbs of Northwest Florida, where it
could be 80F and she’d still be a popsicle.

She is grateful for and humbled by all the readers. She knows very well she
wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them and welcomes feedback.

Thanks Jen! :D I'm fond of so many critters in the world. My huge problem is the 'Morgan Freeman Narrates A Cute Animal Movie' and just watching the trailers I burst into tears. It's SUPER embarrassing. But oh man. March of the Penguins. I swear.

I only wish dragons or phoenix's were not mythical animals, as they would be some of my favourite animals. My next favourite animals are cats in any form, from large to small and then I love wolves, horses, birds, the list goes on. Personally I think I would like to be a were-cat, maybe a cheetah or panther.

I love watching David Attenborough's wildlife series, such as when he met Diana Fossey's mountain gorillas and the enchanting "Meerkats United" documentary he narrated some years ago. He also recently narrated a penguin film 'The Penguin King'. I will look out for the Morgan Freeman ones, as I love his smooth beautiful baritone voice. Have you by chance seen the video of Morgan Freeman talking about the Universe whilst he took a breath of helium from a balloon, it was quite amusing?

Thank you for a chance to win your book and for talking about such a sensitive and personal experience such as domestic violence.

Thanks Sula! :D When I was a kid I freaking loved unicorns. In the end I think it spawned my love of My Little Pony as a child. My favorite was Moondancer for some reason, I honestly have no idea why.

In Chasing Sunrise we actually do meet a werecat! Our plucky hero Jack is a were puma. So when he shifts he's all big, brawny, golden furred but is actually incapable of roaring. He caterwauls, which is something only pumas can do. It's that freaky sound you hear dubbed into movies with big cats being angered.

OMG YES. David Attenborough! That series was awesome. I was a big fan of the Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.

OH! OH! The video with Morgan Freeman and the balloon is actually a real show on the Science Channel! Called Through the Wormhole. He explores all kinds of aspects of the universe and metaphysical phenomena like time travel, alternate dimensions, and how black holes work. You could say I'm a fan. ;D

And thank you so much! It's been about ten years since my escape from abuse, and while I've chipped away at picking up the pieces, there's still a lot of scars that haven't healed yet. Chasing Sunrise and the Darkmore Saga as a whole is my chance to expunge those demons and finally understand it's going to be okay. I hope others will learn, they too will be okay, or help someone understand that there is light at the end.

My fav animal is the horse. I guess it goes to when I was young and we used to have a ranch (just a 2-3 horses, a few cows and chickens) and I loved to ride. But later on my family decided to move on to the city and selled everything except the animals, they gave them to my aunt (she has a ranch, too). I hardly saw any of them after that. :| I guess that's why I like horses so much. :P

Hello Serena! I actually have a friend into urban farming. She keeps chickens in her backyard and collects eggs from them every morning.

I have memories of being fascinated by horses. One Halloween when I was 5 or so they had a pony ride where the owners walked you around the paddock. I wanted NOTHING MORE than to ride the horse. I wouldn't stop bugging my Mom about it. Well, they put me on the horse and I BURST into tears I was so scared of the height and the horse. The horse was very tame, but I was still terrified. LOL

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Meet the Hostess!

Raine O'Tierney is an M/M romance author who loves celebrating other authors, asking probing questions about dachshunds, and generally supporting the creative process! Plus she thinks hats are worth throwing a party over!